Insufficient Sleep Syndrome

For a small minority of people who actually seek help for a sleep disorder, the problem turns out to be Insufficient Sleep Syndrome. As the name implies, this is a disorder effecting people who simply do not get enough sleep at night.

The difference between people affected by this disorder and other people who are perpetually fatigued is that sufferers of Insufficient Sleep Syndrome don’t realize that they aren’t getting enough sleep at night. They aren’t sure why they still feel tired after a night’s sleep, and this is why they wind up seeking treatment.

Oftentimes this disorder can result from lifestyle choices. People start cutting back on sleep in order to get everything done that they need to do throughout the day, and in doing so they convince themselves that they don’t need as much sleep as they thought. They get into the habit of getting far less sleep than their bodies actually require in order to function at full capacity.

Eventually their bodies adjust to the change in sleeping habits. They may feel as though they are getting as much sleep as they need because they are able to function without a full eight hours worth of quality sleep, but the truth is that they aren’t functioning nearly as well as they thought they were functioning.

Diagnosis

Medical researchers specializing in sleep disorders diagnose people with this sleep disorder when there is no other reason why the patient should be feeling so tired and it is additionally apparent that the patient is not getting as much sleep as they should at night. In other words, if there is no medical or environmental reason why the patient is feeling tired then Insufficient Sleep Syndrome may be the reason.

Patients will often vehemently disagree with the diagnosis, because they will argue that it’s not the quantity of sleep they get that is important, but instead the quality of the sleep.

The truth of the matter is, however, that most people need a certain amount of hours of sleep so their bodies can work through the various stages of sleep in order to allow their bodies the rest they need.

Busy people may try to convince themselves that they don’t need very much sleep, but once they actually start to get the recommended amount of sleep every night they will probably notice quickly that they feel much better than before.

Treatment

Insufficient Sleep Syndrome is one of the easiest sleep disorders to treat because it merely involves getting more sleep every night. Once patients get over the initial denial that they actually need to follow the sleep recommendations of their doctors they will probably start to feel much better from getting enough sleep.

This syndrome does not necessarily require medications or further treatment beyond the recommendation of more sleep every single night. This means it is up to the patient to follow the recommendation and to make an effort to get the right amount of sleep every night in order to eradicate the symptoms.